Hey Lovelies! So this one has some Gaelic in it. Minerva is Scottish, so how can I resist not throwing in some of the language. She's brilliant, I'm sure that she speaks it! There is a list of words that you may not know at the end of the chapter! Enjoy!

Chapter 7 – Mo Laoch, Mo Bhanrígh

Oh and what a nightmare she was. Dolores Umbridge was not making things easy on the rest of the castle's inhabitants. No one was really sure why she had decided that she needed to be there so early; there were still two weeks until the start of the term. She was bustling around, in and out of other teachers classrooms asking nonsense questions and then leaving muttering under her breath.

Harry suppressed a chuckle as he sat down beside McGonagall that night at dinner. They had spent the majority of the day apart from one another. It seemed that as long as they were within a relatively close proximity to each other then there were no lingering side effects of the bonding experience.

Minerva had spent the day locked in her office, which was sealed by a portrait in her classroom that wouldn't allow anyone in without a password. Luckily for her, Umbridge didn't have it. Harry had spent the day in the library. Finishing up on all of the homework that he had put off until the last minute. He had been hoping to have Hermione's help, but now he was left on his own. Again.

He looked over at the woman that had suddenly become more than simply his professor. He still wasn't sure what their relationship was going to be, but he didn't think that small talk could hurt. "Good evening professor."

He smiled at her as he slipped in beside her. "Good evening Mr. Potter. How was your day?"

"Fine," He started piling food on his plate, "and yours?"

"Productive." She looked down the table to where Umbridge was just taking her seat and dropped her voice to a whisper. "I locked myself in my office for the majority of the day. It seems Dolores was pestering some of the other professors and I didn't think that I would be able to keep my mouth shut today. It's been a stressful forty-eight hours and I have a feeling that dealing with that woman is only going to make it worse."

She was doing her best to try and not bad mouth the woman, but she found that she didn't much care what she said to Harry, she knew, somehow, that he would keep her secrets for her. Harry nodded, understanding how the Ministry witch could cause an extra amount of stress for the others, and most definitely for Minerva and him self.

"Don't you think she's going to notice if you lock her out of your office everyday?" He smirked at her when she shot him a dirty look. "Come on." He nudged her shoulder gently, seeming to find him self more and more comfortable around her every time they were together. "You know she's going to corner you eventually."

"I'll have you remember Mr. Potter, that cats don't take kindly to being backed into corners."

"Oh I'm afraid I'll know instantly when it happens." He smiled at her, but she looked confused.

"What do you mean?" She raised an eyebrow at him.

"You can't feel it?" He turned to look at her.

"Feel what?"

He shook his head as he saw Dumbledore enter the hall and quickly he tried to think of anything other than the bond. The last thing he needed was Dumbledore reading his mind and finding out that the two of them were now connected. "We can talk about it later."

She nodded and they both continued to eat in silence as the Headmaster joined them at the table. He sat down to Minerva's right and greeted her quickly, before ignoring Harry entirely. Both Gryffindor's noticed, but decided that now wasn't the time to comment. Not with Umbridge once again staring them down.

Harry could feel the worry radiating off of Minerva as he set down his fork and sighed. "I'm going to go try and finish up some last minute homework." He was speaking in a normal tone of voice and there were few enough people in the Hall that his voice carried. "Professor?"

She looked over at him, "Yes Mr. Potter?"

"I have a question about my transfiguration essay, if you're finished would you mind clarifying something for me?"

She smiled inwardly at the grace with which he presented this obviously fictitious story. "Of course. If you would meet me in my office in say, twenty minutes, I'd be happy to help you."

"Thank you." He nodded his head to her out of respect as he stood and exited the hall, well aware of two sets of eyes boring into his back. One set a piercing, twinkling blue, and the other a dirty, mousy brown. Minerva's shining emerald ones locked on his own as he turned back over his shoulder one last time before disappearing up the steps.

Hermione flopped down in the oversized armchair in the library. She and Sirius had been looking for two days and they still hadn't been able to come up with an explanation as to what could be going on with Harry. She knew that Sirius knew more than he was letting her in on, but she couldn't blame him. She doubted that she would be telling him everything she knew either.

"What are you still doing in here Hermione?" Ron poked his head in the door, "Mum says that dinner is ready, and I know for a fact that you skipped lunch. You have to eat. Not eating is not going to make anything make any more sense."

She sighed, she knew that he was right, but she couldn't shake the feeling that she was close. That if she left the library now she may never find what she was looking for, but that if she stayed for one more minute maybe it would fall right into her lap.

She looked up at him with wide eyes, "I know. You're right; it's just that I can feel it. The answer is here, I just have to find it."

"Hermione if the answer is in this room, it will still be in this room once you have finished dinner." Ginny appeared beside Ron in the doorway. "You might as well come downstairs, before Mum has the twins come and drag you down there."

Hermione shook slightly at the thought of the twins coming to haul her downstairs to eat. She resigned herself to her fate and got up out of the chair. She followed the two youngest Weasley's out into the hall, but she paused at the door. Turning back one more time to look around the room. The answer was in here.

Sirius watched as Hermione followed the other two down the stairs and he quietly slipped into the library. He thought that he had it figured out, that he knew what was going on and he was sure that despite Harry's longstanding friendship with the girl, his godson wouldn't want her finding out from a book. That was, if he wanted her to find out at all.

He moved purposefully through the library, intent on taking only the one volume that he knew that Hermione couldn't get her hands on. He was shocked to see that the ladder was in exactly the right place on the wall. He climbed up and reached for the book he needed.

He sucked in a breath when he realized that the one beside it was missing. A glance over his shoulder confirmed that Hermione was on the right track. The book on Norse mythology that was supposed to be resting next to the one he was after, was lying on the end table with a bookmark sticking out of it. She had been so close.

He stepped off the ladder and looked down at the book in his hand, Dìon Mionn. The entire book was in Gaelic, but he had no doubts that Hermione would have found some way to read it had she known that this was indeed was she was looking for. "Kreacher."

The elf popped up at Sirius's elbow looking very reluctant to do so. "Yes Master?"

"Take this book up to my room, and tell no one of it." He thrust the book out towards the elf and left the library without so much as another word.

"Yes Master." Kreacher replied to Sirius's retreating form, and with a loud crack the dusty library was once again empty.

"What do you mean you don't have a minute Minerva? I thought that you were taking questions in your office after dinner?" Harry groaned upon hearing the squeaky voice. He knew that she was stressed; he could feel it growing stronger and stronger with every step that he took towards her office. Now he knew why.

"I'm afraid you thought wrong Dolores. You see I have an appointment just now. If you would like to make one tomorrow then I will set aside some time to see you." There was no mistaking that tone. Anyone that had gone to Hogwarts while Minerva McGonagall had been the Transfiguration teacher knew that tone. It implied that there was no room to argue, a fact that Umbridge seemed to miss.

"Minerva don't you think,"

"Excuse me Professors." Harry stepped into the corridor just then, effectively cutting off Umbridge's sentence. Harry looked at the small woman hard for a moment, before he stepped forward to put himself indirectly between her and Minerva. He didn't know why he had done it until he felt Minerva relax a little behind him. "I'm sorry Professor Umbridge, but I have an appointment to meet with Professor McGonagall, if you would excuse us?"

He took a gentle step towards Minerva and she took the hint, allowing him to follow her down the hall to a picture of Godric Gryffindor.

Harry looked over his shoulder and seeing that Umbridge had walked off in the other direction he turned back to the woman standing in front of him. "I thought your office was behind your classroom?"

She smiled, "It is." She turned to face the painting. "Good evening Godric."

"Good evening my dear." The painting smiled at her. "What can I do for you?"

"I would like you to allow Mr. Potter here entrance whenever he should ask for it." She smiled back at the man.

"Minerva?" He looked confused, "That is unheard of!"

"Not anymore, and I wish that you refrain from telling anyone that he has permission to be in here. Can you do that?"

The man in the painting nodded.

"I mean anyone Godric. Not even Albus." She fixed him with her stern teaching glare and it seemed that even one of the great founders of the school was not immune.

"Of course my dear." The painting turned to Harry. "Mr. Potter." He bowed his head. "Welcome." The painting swung forward and revealed a doorway that Harry was surprised to see magically expanded to the floor so that you didn't have to crawl through.

Without a word Harry followed Minerva through the door, which magically closed behind him. "Where are we?" He looked around himself, at the cozy living room to his left and the short hall that spread before him. There were a few doors that led off of it to each side.

"These are my private quarters Harry. You can understand why it would be odd for me to allow a student in here at all. Let alone whenever you should ask for it."

He nodded as he refocused his attention on her. She was pulling her outer robe over her head, leaving her in a pair of casual black slacks and a silk, crimson blouse. Oddly muggle clothes Harry thought as he studied her. "You wanted to talk to me?"

Her voice called him back to reality. He noticed that upon shedding her robes she had shed her glamor spell. She appeared before him as her current, natural self and he was surprised to see that she was still changing. Even from when he had seen her in the kitchen at Grimmauld two days ago her appearance had changed. The rate was much less drastic, and she still appeared to be in her mid-thirties, but things were most definitely still shifting.

"Um, yeah." He shook his head to clear his thoughts for a moment before he refocused on her. "I started to mention it at dinner before we weren't alone anymore, but I feel as if I can feel the things you are feeling."

"Really?" Her curiosity peaked, and Harry laughed.

"Yeah, it's a learning process, so I'm sure that it will be more precise as we continue to feel this thing out, but I just felt your emotions change. Some of your worry seemed to slip away and it was replaced by something else. Something more," he paused trying to come up with the right word for how she was feeling, "pleasant."

She smiled at him, "It was curiosity. I wonder why I can't feel you?"

He shook his head, "I don't know, maybe it's a one way bond? I could feel your ribs, and now your emotions, maybe I can only feel you?"

She seemed to panic, "I hope not! I want you to get something out of this bond too! I don't want you to have to deal with everything that I go through along with your own life. Harry you're fifteen! I couldn't put that on you."

"Hey," instinctively he reached out and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in close to him. He smiled when he felt her relax, "Hey, none of this is your fault, you didn't ask for this bond, you didn't force it on us." He pulled back and looked her in the eye, glad that they were the same height now. "I am getting something out of this. You cared enough to jump in front of that dementor for me, I didn't know there was anyone in this world that would care enough to risk their life so directly for mine."

There were tears in Minerva's eyes and she was doing her best not to let them fall. "I may be fifteen, but I think that like you, I'm changing. At a slower pace, and not necessarily physically, but I'm changing. Maturing, because of this bond. I don't regret it, any of it. And I hope that you don't either."

"Harry," one of the tears did manage to sneak its way down her cheek and he brushed it away with his thumb, "I didn't mean to make you think that I regretted my decision, I don't. This is just an adjustment, an initial phase that we are going to have to work through." She smiled, "Thank you for saving me from Umbridge."

"Of course. Anyone would have saved you from her though. I don't think a soul in this place really likes her."

Minerva chuckled. "Probably not."

He let her go and looked over her shoulder to the small clock on the mantle. "I should probably head up to the tower, I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be an equally long day." Minerva bit her bottom lip, and he paused. "What's the matter?" He could feel her unease as it leaked into him.

"I don't think I'm going to be able to sleep with you in the tower."

"Oh?" He tried out the strength of the bond and flexed it out towards her. She was right, neither one of them would sleep properly if they were separated from the other. Not yet anyway. "Okay, well then I guess…"

He didn't really know what she was expecting him to do next. "Would you mind terribly sleeping in here with me tonight? We can try to sleep further and further apart as the time comes?"

He nodded and she took his hand, leading him further into her apartment. When they were settled together for the night she turned out the light and he wrapped his arms around her. "I'm sorry that I am causing you so much trouble mo loach." She smiled and curled into his side.

Harry didn't know where the words came from, but as he felt her drifting off beside him they felt right. "You are no trouble at all mo bhanrígh."

Okay so our words are:

Mo Loach = My Warrior

Mo Bhanrígh = My Queen

Dìon Mionn = Protection Oath